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1 month in Indonesia (open to other Asia suggestions)

I'd say your experience of no big fish is pretty much representative of most of Asia - things I've seen at Bangka that I'd call bigger fish would be a pod of pilot whales, an army of bumpheads happily chomping get buzzed by a thuggery of GTS on their way somewhere in a hurry, solitary barracudas and breeding size grouper and the odd reef shark around Bangkas dive spots.

Unfortunately the ocean doesn't always play nice and give us what we ordered.

Now will you ALL stop going to Bangka...you know it wasn't that long ago I decided to decamp to Bunaken because the only other two divers on Bangka had left three days before and I hadn't heard of those new fangled Kindle things and had read Superfreakonomics twice. Wasn't bored with the diving, was bored with myself

I'd say your experience of no big fish is pretty much representative of most of Asia - things I've seen at Bangka that I'd call bigger fish would be a pod of pilot whales, an army of bumpheads happily chomping get buzzed by a thuggery of GTS on their way somewhere in a hurry, solitary barracudas and breeding size grouper and the odd reef shark around Bangkas dive spots.

Unfortunately the ocean doesn't always play nice and give us what we ordered.

Now will you ALL stop going to Bangka...you know it wasn't that long ago I decided to decamp to Bunaken because the only other two divers on Bangka had left three days before and I hadn't heard of those new fangled Kindle things and had read Superfreakonomics twice. Wasn't bored with the diving, was bored with myself

Hope Bangka decides to let you see it's best side

Click to expand...

It's your Bangka, Wingy. Thanks so very much for telling me about it when you did. I tried to keep it secret for 4 years but it appears that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak.

Yes, I've seen the pilot whales too but only from the surface. Were you actually diving when you saw them?

" . . . the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy is a liquid." (partial quote from J.D. Salinger)

Yes Chilli at Batu Mandi - I suspect they were taking a shortcut through the Bangka straight. I've had a couple of encounters with them at Richeleiu and Hin Muang too - here I get lucky and have had a humpback mum and youngster and greys beaked whale cruise by. Not an every day or even every year occurrence though. It did take me 11 years to find a common old seahorse though if it makes any difference....ticked all the exotics but your good old chain store variety? Not until last year at Komodo....

Well... it's the first time I hear there is no fish in Bangka. Here's how Sahaung 2 looks below 30m. It's covered with fish and taht pic is taken with a 10mm fisheye which means everything looks further away than it is : if you look in the distance there are thousands of fish, it's blanketed with sweetlips, snappers, fusiliers, reef fish, etc. Nowhere like Bunaken which is for me scarce with fishlife.

More scarcely some whitetip sharks (except the usual under the coral tables) and of course every pygmy seahorse you can name, especially pontohi and severnsi species, plus the ultra rare red pygmy pipefish festucalex rufus.